Spring-Ford Intermediate School Kids return to school after rash outbreak

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Kids return to school after rash outbreak

February 12, 2002

By JOHN GENTZEL

For The Times Herald

ROYERSFORD -- Students return to the Spring-Ford Intermediate School today,

even as officials remain puzzled over the cause of mysterious rash that

prompted the district to shut down the building on Monday.

Since last Thursday, more than 100 intermediate school students have come

down with a red, pinkish rash on their arms and necks.

After working all weekend without finding a cause for the outbreak,

Spring-Ford Area School District officials opted to close the building

Monday as a precautionary measure.

While officials await the results of tests conducted by the district's

environmental hygienist, the other checks, including one of the building's

water supply and a physical inspection conducted last Friday by the

Montgomery County Health Department, produced results well within approved

limits, according to a department release issued Monday.

The department speculated that possible environmental factors (indoor or

outdoor), a mild viral infection or even stress could be behind the

outbreaks. Montgomery County Health Department spokeswoman Harriet Morton

said additional environmental test results were expected back either today

or Wednesday.

With students out of the building, Spring-Ford personnel cleaned rooms,

scrubbed down desks and opened windows in the intermediate school Monday,

but after five days of testing and searching for an answer, officials still

cannot say what's behind the outbreaks.

" No one can tell me the etiology of this, " Superintendent Genevieve Coale

said. " One (doctor) said possibly viral, another said possibly environmental

(causes), and the rest just don't know. So we're going to open for business

and we're going to deal with it.

" I've had many long conversations with parents (Monday) and they've all been

really supportive. None of the (students') doctors have reported anything

life-threatening, For some (students) it just goes away and for others,

treatment works. "

The intermediate school wasn't the only target of the mysterious outbreaks,

as 66 middle school students (24 on Friday and another 42 on Monday) have

also been sent home; the facility, however, remained open, Coale said.

In some of the middle school cases, students were " manufacturing symptoms, "

Coale said. The superintendent said district nurses said some students had

been rubbing or picking at their skin to simulate a rash.

But Spring-Ford's nurses are " careful to look for patterns, " Coale said,

" and they aren't taking any of the cases lightly. " Coale said an additional

nurse would be stationed at both the middle and intermediate schools

starting today.

In the release issued Monday, Montgomery County interim Health Director

ph Roynan recommended that districts keep track of all the rash

occurrences and that any child experiencing the rash be advised to see a

pediatrician or dermatologist for diagnosis and treatment.

" It appears that the rash is a non-health threat and resolves within four to

five weeks. The rash seems to be relieved after treatment, " wrote Roynan in

the letter. " However, the etiology of the rash is unknown at this time. The

children have not been affected in any other way. There does not seem to be

any environmental cause for the rash. "

If any district experiences an " extraordinary increase " in the amount of

cases, that school district should contact the health department

immediately, Roynan added.

County officials were unsure whether the incidents reported in Spring-Ford

were at all related to the similar events that transpired in the Quakertown

Area School District last week.

Gentzel can be reached at jgentzel@....

©The Times Herald 2002